Cellular equipment for use in vehicles has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Original cellular equipment was bulky with distributed control, usually having the transceiver in a trunk mount configuration, and a specialized remotely located handset and stand mounted on the floorboard and between the seats, on the dashboard, or in some instances from the windshield. As the units have gotten smaller, the transceiver, handset and bracket have been increasingly mounted together on the floor board of the vehicle via a metal pipe stand.
Floorboard mounting is undesirable since it can injure the legs and feet of persons entering the car from one side and moving to the other side, as in the case of one side of the car being blocked or when children enter the vehicle. Even in usual situations, adults may snag clothing or be injured by floor mounted equipment. The floor mounts are typically fixed and inflexible, and thus become a serious hazard during sudden stops or collisions. Therefore such mounting is not desirable.
As cellular telephones have continued to improve, it is common today to use small portable phones. Some of the commercially available portable phones are small enough to be placed in the shirt pocket, but the average size of a cellular phone is about six to ten inches tall, from about one to two inches deep and about two to three and a half inches wide. It is unusual to have both a mobile installed cellular phone and a portable cellular phone simultaneously, as a portable cellular phone will perform adequately within a vehicle.
However, for portable cellular phones, using them while driving can be difficult. Usually they lay on the seat, or may be mounted in a brief case or carry bag. If no other place is provided to carry the portable cellular phone, these places may well be where the cellular phone will reside during travel.
If a call is received while the portable cellular phone is in a bag or brief case, the user may not be in a position while driving to answer the call. Where the portable cellular phone is on the seat or nearby the driver, the driver must still take his eyes off the road or begin "feeling around" for the portable cellular phone in an attempt to locate it. When located, the portable cellular phone must still be manipulated to a position where the buttons may be pushed to answer the call. This period may seem short, but if it occurs during a tense driving moment, an accident will very likely result.
The unsecured mounting of the portable cellular phone allows it to be thrown from the seat in a sudden stop. The driver may instinctively reach to secure the portable cellular phone during such an episode. This not only means the driver's eyes are off the road, but may cause a sudden rotation of the steering wheel, and result in an accident.
Floor mounted stands can help to solve the location and access problem, but is most undesirable due both to the injuries set forth above, as well as the necessity to put holes in the floor board of the vehicle with metal screws and the resulting unsightliness which occurs if and when the stand is removed.
Other types of mounting may include directly mounting to the dash board, but such mounting may depend upon the configuration of the dash board or instrument panel available and how it will mate with and interact with the mounting bracket. In addition, such mountings typically are not amenable to removal of the mounting structure where the user either quits using the portable cellular phone, or desires to remove it from the vehicle for any period of time.
In addition, most commonly available brackets not only fail to facilitate removal in a manner which leaves the interior of the vehicle in an acceptable condition, most also do not enable support for anything more than the exact structures for which the brackets were designed. The liquid crystal display readout on the portable cellular phones of today are optimally readable based upon their angle with respect to the driver. If the angle of the portable cellular phone isn't within an acceptable range, the readout will be unreadable due to angle, or due to glare or other reflection. Having the driver move to a contorted position to read the display can add to the safety problems discussed above.
What is therefore needed is a bracket which facilitates the mounting, display, access and availability of a portable cellular phone. The bracket should be amenable for use in both left and right hand drive vehicles, and permit free adjustment of the portable cellular phone to enable maximal readout of the display. Further, the bracket and bracket system should enable alternative methods of mounting to truly become a universal type bracket. Not all portable cellular phones have a housing shape which adapts to a single type of mounting method. Alternatives should be available on the bracket and bracket system desired to provide such flexibility based not only upon the configuration of the housing of the phone, but also based upon the desires of the user.